Could we actually stop an asteroid from hitting Earth? (video)

A massive asteroid hitting our planet could put an end to humanity as we know it. So what would we do if we found an asteroid heading for Earth?

In a new video from popular YouTube channel AsapScience, legendary science educator Bill Nye explains how we could potentially stop an asteroid hitting earth. Options include slamming a rocket into the asteroid, sending up a huge rocket ship that could move the asteroid off course using mutual gravity, and “laser bees” that are powered by the sun.

He stresses the event is unlikely to occur, but we still need to be thinking vigorously about how to destroy or move an asteroid off course.

“Just ’cause it’s unlikely, doesn’t mean it’s not a big deal,” Nye says in the video. “If it only happens once every few thousand years [and] if it happens on my watch, it would, as the kids say, ‘suck’. So we don’t want that to happen. Asteroids are serious business.”